From the riverside I moved on to a grass path that run up the near side of the docks, with hedgerow and drainage ditches on either side. The path bisects two roads that lead in to the docks. At the top end where the informal path stops, turning left I was directed on to a road down the northern side of the docks to a roundabout and at the opposite side of the roundabout, on to a path that took me back out to the riverbank. As I walked down the road I could see a vehicle parked in the middle of the roundabout and being me was inquisitive as to its purpose?
Stopping to speak to the driver, he explained that his job was to control the arrival and departure times of the huge cargo lorries that were required when ships were actively unloading. With certain types of cargoe, grain for example, the cargo is unloaded directly on to the lorries and dispatched elsewhere. At such times the volume of traffic can be more than the port can handle and their coming and goings need to be closely managed. He was in touch with both the lorry drivers and the dockside by radio and coordinated the flow of traffic on to the docks according to current conditions. He told me he could be sitting there in his cabin for up to four or five hours at a time and on a warm day like today I did not envy him.
For a lot of this walk it is a mixed landscape and you see what you want to see. Along both banks of the river there is evidence of both current and lost industrial heritage and at times it can have a kind of hang dog look about it. However, you choose to see what you want to see; the beauty of the riverside and creek settings with wild flowers and grasses or, to be dismayed by occasional empty and / or neglected buildings, ship wrecks and the pre-dominance of large industrial buildings on the horizon.
Once back on the river and slightly further down Fowley Island, a strip of sand and marsh just off the main river channel on my side of the river, indicated the location of Conyer Creek, where I would turn right to go up the creek, pass by the houses and wharf at the hamlet of Conyer and continue on inland to my destination at Tynham.